the death of the Emperor Nicholas showing a total loss to the Russians of 240,000 men. It seems almost incredible, but the march through the muddy flats, and bad, unmetalled roads of Southern Russia, the severity of the winter there, the traversing of the wind-swept steppes of the Crimea, supplies and shelter being throughout the route difficult to obtain, and the transport of the country destroyed, had put such a strain on the troops that, out of every three men who were despatched to the army, it may be said two fell by the way. Besides losses of this kind, in the six months from March to August inclusive, 81,000 men had been killed or wounded in and around Sebastopol. There was a cemetery on the north side, called " The grave of the Hundred Thousand," whither the dead were conveyed from the works and the hospitals. The Armies of the Great Military Powers had not at that time approached to their present magnitude, and it was evident that even the comparatively huge resources of Russia must be drawing towards their end.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DESTRUCTION OF SEBASTOPOL.
What Gortschakoff saw in Sebastopol — Yet He resolves to sustain an Assault— French Plan of Assault — The Final Bombardment — The French Attacking Forces— The English— The Assault— Cost of taking the Malakoff — Failure of the French elsewhere — Failure at the Redan — Predominance of the Malakoff— Incidents on following Days — Constancy of the Garrison — Final Destruction of the Fleet.
SEEING how desperate was the condition of the fortress, Prince Gortschakoff had resolved, after the battle of the Tchernaya, to abandon the place. In letters to the Minister for War, of the i8th and 24th August, he expressed this intention, saying there was not a man in the Army who would not call it folly to continue the defence longer. It was with a view to operating a retreat that he pressed forward the construction of the bridge across the harbour, which was to have a roadway of sixteen feet, and to bear heavy vehicles. He also conferred with Todleben on other measures to protect the withdrawal, and, accordingly, barricades were built across the streets, and formed into armed and defensible works, in which, as a last resort, to hold in check the assailants. Preparations were also made for blowing up the principal forts and magazines.
274 What Gortschakoff saw in Sebastopol.
Another great cannonade had begun on the I7th August. The French lines had now approached so close to the place that new additions to them were immediately destroyed or rendered untenable by the fire from the Malakoff and Little Redan ; and the shower of small shells, easily cast into the trenches from the ramparts, and called by the French bouquets, greatly increased the losses of men. It was for the silencing of the artillery which thus hindered the French, that the Allied batteries opened in full force against the part of the enemy's lines from the Redan to the great harbour. But the town front was not included, and the English batteries suffered greatly from want of support by the works on their left.
On the 2Oth August Gortschakoff entered the fortress, and went round the lines of defence, upon which the fire of the Allies was just then at its height. What he saw might well confirm him in his resolution to retreat. There was no longer either a city or a suburb to defend, for both were heaps of rubbish and cinders. The parapets of the works, dried in the heats of summer, and split in huge fragments by the shot, were crumbling into the ditches. The interior space was honey-combed with holes made by the shells. Gabions and sandbags could not be procured to repair the embrasures, which remained in ruins. Many of the dismounted guns could no longer be replaced, not because there were not plenty in the arsenals, but because to mount them by night, under the deadly fire of the mortars, entailed such frightful sacrifices of men. The defenders of the works were packed in caves under
Yet He resolves to sustain an Assault. 275